Forfeits and Wagers
by Animesque
Summary: Oshitari should know that going up against the Trickster is detrimental to one’s health. Especially if it’s going to end in a wager of some kind. Really Yuushi… You should have known better. Rikkai and Hyouteicentric! Involves complete crack. Honest...!
1. The Forfeit

**Forfeits and Wagers**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Prince of Tennis (no matter how much I want to -cries-) But I do, kind of, own this story line. Honestly.

**Summary:** Oshitari should know that going up against the Trickster is detrimental to one's health. Especially if it's going to end in a wager of some kind. Really Yuushi… You should have known better.

**Chapter Summary: **Oshitari loses. Honestly, someone should have said 'I told you so!' Anyhow, Oshitari remembers, with horrible clarity, the events of yesteryear. Yuushi? I TOLD YOU SO!

**Warnings: **Crack. OOC. Shounen ai. Oh… And references to TCON. XD You've been warned.

**A/N: **This is written as a request for OnlyMeg!! Wah! I hope you like this first chapter. I swear it's going to be closer to your request a little further on. Just setting the scene for now, so stay with me, ne? XD

XD As for the warning… Well… There's a /much/ bigger hint of shounen ai here and many couples to that affect. I'll name them in the next chapter so I don't spoil anything for you now. Oh… For readers of TCON: Don't worry about any spoilers or any contradictions and whatnot… This fic is set three years after the events in TCON. For non-readers of TCON: Don't worry, there's nothing mentioned that you won't get. So...

ENJOY!!

* * *

**Chapter One: The Forfeit**

Oshitari Yuushi, tensai of Hyoutei Gakuen's nationally ranked tennis team, looked over at his opponent with his long famed poker face.

His eyes went back to his long time partner, Mukahi Gakuto, who shook his head almost sympathetically.

His opponent, one Niou Masaharu, watched him lazily with a sly smirk playing on the corner of his lips. The Trickster's partner, Yagyuu Hiroshi, watched the silent interaction with amusement.

After years of playing this particular game and the knowledge that it brought, Oshitari Yuushi knew when he was beaten.

With a final look at his cards, the tensai conceded defeat. "Fold."

Niou's smirk grew, "Game. Set. Match."

* * *

It could have been worse. It could have much, much worse, Oshitari thought ruefully as he gazed at his scorecard. The final figure at the bottom showed that he had lost almost 20,000 points in today's game. Not too bad, and hopefully, the repercussions shouldn't be too serious. 

His erstwhile opponent was now surrounded by a group of boys, the entire Rikkai tennis team in fact, minus Yukimura and Sanada. At his back, Oshitari had the entire Hyoutei tennis team, minus Atobe and Hiyoshi. The four had made their excuses for today, probably off for a game or two of friendly tennis. But under normal circumstances, they would be here as well.

Their, being Niou, Yagyuu, Gakuto and Oshitari himself, twice monthly poker games had long become a rallying point for the two tennis teams, long entrenched in rivalry and respect, to get together. Kind of like a memorial day for that training camp almost three years ago.

"Name the forfeit." The blue-haired tensai winced as Kirihara Akaya's voice sounded. And he was more than excited, as were the remainder of the Rikkai team. The Hyoutei team were torn between amusement at their tensai's expense and sympathy for whatever the Trickster was about to inflict on him.

Oshitari shuddered as particular memories came back to haunt him. He had sworn never ever to lose so badly as he had on that particular day almost a year ago. Niou had decided that he wanted to play STRIP poker out of all things. Which sane person would want to play such a thing within a group of guys?

* * *

_On that day fateful day: According to Oshitari…_

Niou named the forfeit and waited for response. No one disappointed.

Yagyuu smiled politely. Marui and Kirihara howled with laughter. Yanagi had readied his pen and notebook for data. Yukimura and Jackal stood by with amused expressions while Sanada merely looked on with a slightly shocked expression. On top of it all, Niou sat with that irritating smirk upon his face.

His own team was not much better.

Atobe had made some comment about awe-ing the others with his prowess. Oshitari wanted nothing to do with that, thank you very much. Kabaji had nodded to whatever Atobe had said.

Jirou bounced up and down, excited. Shishido had snorted with laughter while Choutarou had scolded him lightly about 'consideration for others'. Hiyoshi had muttered 'gekokujou' and sent Niou an impressed look.

Gakuto was the only one who looks somewhat upset about the idea, with his face lowered and hair covering it. Or that was what Oshitari thought, until the red-head burst out laughing.

Niou had shut the Hyoutei team up with his simple statement. "One piece of clothing in exchange for 1000 points."

No one present was dumb, they could all add, subtract, divide and multiply, to an extent.

Oshitari had lost 60,000 and it was spring, with fairly warm weather. There was absolutely no way that Oshitari could be wearing anything close to 60 pieces of clothing.

It took the entire room less than two seconds to figure out Niou had something else planned. And he didn't disappoint.

Smirk. "You're welcome to count a sock as one item of clothing. Same with a tie or necklace. Belts even."

The blue haired tensai had said nothing. He merely crossed his arms and watched Niou carefully.

Smirk. Smirk. "However, since it obvious that you don't have enough clothing on, I'll allow you to start on your team once you strip down to nothing. If your debt still isn't settled by the time your entire team has stripped, then you can start on my team. I am exempt of course. You are to keep it off for the remainder of the day, no matter where you go. You can only put them back on once you reach home."

Loud shouts sounded at this, from both the Hyoutei and Rikkai teams. The entire Hyoutei team didn't look like they had on more than 20 pieces of clothing between them. The only people not loudly yelling about the debt settlement were Niou, Oshitari, Yukimura, Atobe and Jackal. Renji was muttering but it appeared to have something to do with data. And Sanada? Well… He appeared to be more in shock than anything.

Jackal just stood with his small smile, looking out into the big, big world. Yukimura and Atobe exchanged a look and smirked away as usual, sharing their telepathic buchou link once more. Oshitari was resigned but quite amused at Niou's daring. The Trickster had just managed to put himself in everyone's bad books with one move. Quite a feat.

The Trickster added one more thing, "Oh. Just down to your boxers. Nothing more. I don't want to scar our second years more than necessary."

Akaya pouted as if he was disappointed. On second thought. He probably was. Choutarou was a nice bright red color and Shishido was patting his shoulder gently. Hiyoshi was the most expressionless one. His muttered, "Gekokujou" was the only response he gave.

Oshitari sighed but started: Tie. Shirt. Singlet. Pants. Sock. Sock. Necklace. It came to a total of seven items.

He turned to Atobe who smirked and told the entire room to be in awe of his prowess. Their captain removed: Shirt. Belt. Pants. Sock. Sock. Dog tag. Total of six items. Atobe proceeded to lounge in his bright purple boxers against the nearest wall. Only Atobe would have the daring, and the confidence, to pull that off and still look commanding.

Kabaji didn't need Oshitari to look at him. He just began stripping: Shirt. Shorts. Sock. Sock.

He reached for his boxers but the entire room shrieked or otherwise protested calmly and he stopped.

"Kabaji… There's no need to go that far. Everyone's already in enough awe." Atobe's drawl sounded calmly.

"Usu." The big, friendly, stripped giant stepped back. Everyone else in the room breathed a sigh of relief. Only Renji looked slightly disappointed. No one wanted to know what was going through the data master's mind. Anyway, Kabaji had removed four items.

Sanada, Akaya and Choutarou peeked from beneath the table. Choutarou was the first to stand and sent a grateful look in Shishido's general direction. Obviously, the elder of the Silver Pair had shoved Choutarou under the table. "Shishido-san…" Choutarou breathed with an awed expression.

Shishido reached out a hand and hauled his kouhai out from under the table, "It's no problem."

Then they had their 'silver' moment and all was good in the world.

Not.

Yukimura just smiled at his two teammates.

Sanada righted himself immediately. "I was just… Helping Akaya search for something." The vice captain's eyes met Kirihara's and they reached an understanding.

"Yeah!" Akaya bounced up and draped himself around Yukimura.

The remainder of the Rikkai team rolled their eyes. They /really/ thought that could work?

Gakuto bounced to the middle of the circle that had formed and began to count his clothes as he removed them: Light jacket. Shirt. Singlet. Chain. Belt. Pants. Sock. Sock. Necklace. Nine items.

The Rikkai team mumbled amongst themselves as they counted. If things were going the way they were supposed to, perhaps they wouldn't need to be embarrassed.

Jirou moved next. His clothes practically flew off. "Look! Look! Marui-kun!!!" He bounced around the room with only his boxers on.

Everyone's eyes were disturbingly drawn to the picture of Marui on the back of them. And the words: 'Marui-kun Rocks My Jocks' printed beneath the picture.

Akaya stared at Marui accusingly. Renji's pen flew across his page and faint snatches of song floated around. Sanada and Yagyuu both choked on the gulp of water they just took. Jackal grinned and Niou smirked. Marui himself almost fainted and kind of tottered around the room until Yukimura gave him a gentle shove which caused the red-haired tensai to collapse right into Jirou's waiting arms.

The Hyoutei team ignored the ghastly sight of Jirou. They had seen it countless times in the change rooms. Jirou insisted on showing a new pair off every practice.

Akaya stomped up the Hyoutei boy and snatched his 'partner' away with a glare. "Go away! He's mine!"

Jirou pouted but went back to join the rest of his teammates. Niou poked at the pile of clothing that the now yawning boy had left in the middle of the floor. "Shirt. T-shirt. Singlet. Necklace. One sock. Three quarter pants. Belt. Total of seven items."

Everyone turned to look at Jirou. He didn't have another sock on. Everyone turned back to the pile. Niou shrugged. "Only one sock here."

Now only three Hyoutei players were left. They glanced at each other uneasily. Choutarou was now a bright red color. Shishido blocked the other player's speculative looks at Choutarou by standing in front of him. "I'll go next!" He proclaimed.

Choutarou seriously had tears in his eyes, "Oh Shishido-san!"

What transpired next was completely private and was so distressing that Oshitari had wiped it out of his memory. However, it was definitely not what you're thinking about right now.

Really...

Anyway, Shishido slouched his way up to the front of the room and removed his gear, all the while scowling.

Niou, who had never gotten over teasing the blue-capped boy and his doubles partner, grinned, "Say, Shishido… The way you're going now, people are going to think that you don't enjoy stripping."

Shishido's face went a nice angry/embarrassed color. "Not everyone's like /you/, Niou."

The entire Rikkai team went, "Ooh…" And everyone turned to Niou who was still smiling. In an evil manner.

"Ah… It's just that I would have thought you'd have enough practice by now. Y'know… Every time you strip for Chouta-kun…" The Trickster let his voice trail off suggestively.

This time, the entire Hyoutei team went, "OOH…!" And everyone then turned to Shishido.

Choutarou flushed even deeper and buried his face into his hands. Shishido glared but couldn't appear to come up with a come back. Without a word, he took off what he could. Which definitely didn't include his boxers.

Niou drawled out the items as they hit the floor, "T-shirt. Shorts. Sock. Sock. Cap…" When Shishido stomped back to rejoin the Hyoutei players, the Trickster raised an eyebrow. "Only five items?"

Shishido sent him the glare of the century, as if daring him to say something else. Niou ignored the challenge and noted the number down on his notebook. "Right. Two more. Who's next?"

Hiyoshi looked at Choutarou who looked at Hiyoshi. They continued doing that until Shishido got jealous and 'accidentally' shoved Hiyoshi into the middle.

"…" Hiyoshi muttered. The entire Hyoutei team nodded sagely at that even though it was quite hard to understand what exactly he was saying. Honestly, to the Rikkai team, it just sounded like 'dot dot dot'.

He started on his shirt first. The entire room watched with fascinated horror as he removed item after item.

After a while, Akaya leaned over to Marui and murmured, "How does he manage to wear so much and look like he's just wearing one shirt?"

As what looked like the sixth shirt hit the floor, Marui murmured back, "Maybe it's because he's anorexic?"

Niou poked at the gigantic pile of color on the floor for a moment before stopping a slowly retreating Hiyoshi. His eyes narrowed slyly as he eyed the wide eyed second year from Hyoutei. One hand snapped out and grabbed Hiyoshi by the band of his boxers.

The entire room gasped. Yagyuu almost fainted this time round. Niou had never done that to him!

"Take them off…" Niou told an almost growling Hiyoshi.

The Hyoutei boy scowled but complied. People shrieked, covered their eyes and dove under the table. Not necessarily in the order.

When the boxers hit the floor, only Yukimura, Renji, Jackal, Atobe, Kabaji, Shishido and Yagyuu remained standing. Oh… Hold on, Yagyuu /had/ fainted, standing up.

Sanada was currently suffering from a major nosebleed. Yukimura handed him some tissues and patted his back. Shishido was censoring Choutarou's vision while Renji was scribbling away. However, a suspicious looking trickle of red was running from his nose too.

"Happy?" Hiyoshi leveled his best glare on the pleased looking Trickster.

Niou jumped around a little and poked his doubles 'partner', who was still out like a light, "Not really. I want you to remove the remaining extra pairs of boxers you have on."

Hiyoshi sighed but resigned himself to his fate. But… His lucky boxers would then be shown to the whole world! The Hyoutei second year started taking them off.

People began to peek out from the various corners and from under the table as another pair of Hiyoshi's boxers landed on the floor. Followed by another. And another.

"Happy now?" The growl was emitted from a very shadowy looking Hiyoshi.

"Very." Niou smirked, definitely pleased. He counted everything while people crawled back to their original place, or revived themselves.

"Red shirt. Blue shirt. Green shirt. Yellow singlet. Grey singlet. /Pink/ singlet?" Niou gave Hiyoshi an interested look before his eyes widened, taking in what Hiyoshi was currently clad in. Niou backed up a couple of steps, tripped and went sprawling backwards, clutching his stomach and just laughed.

Everyone, not used to the Trickster being so mirthful, turned to a highly embarrassed Hiyoshi to see what was wrong.

The flushing second year crossed his arms and looked to one side. "There's nothing wrong with Hello Kitty or Barbie."

Gakuto choked at that and sniggered. Shishido was still covering Choutarou's eyes from the abomination. Atobe smirked. Oshitari shoved his glasses up to sit more firmly, but even he couldn't control the snicker that slipped out.

"Hiyoshi… Hello Kitty and Barbie are for girls." Oshitari informed the unhappy looking second year. "Although I am curious as to how you managed to procure a pair of boxers in /that/ color and print. It's quite… Pink."

"Mutter…"

"Pardon? I didn't quite catch that…" Oshitari asked with his smirk firmly back in place.

Choutarou batted Shishido's hands away and stood, speaking up for his friend. "He said that he had it especially ordered."

The tall, silver-haired, second year crossed his arms and tried to look intimidating. That worked as well as a kitten trying to look deadly. "Now stop picking on Wakashi."

Shishido patted Choutarou's shoulder and managed to get his kouhai to sit back down. By this time, Niou managed to pick himself off the floor and continue with the counting. "Ahem… Sock. Sock. Pants. Belt. Action man boxers. Teenage mutant ninja turtle boxers. Hotwheels boxers. Transformer boxers." He looked up at the still shadowy Hiyoshi, who was apparently trying to hide in a corner without success. "Do you have some kind of fetish with…" He waved a hand at the pile of boxers in the middle.

Hiyoshi declined to answer.

Quickly adding the shirts and singlets to his count, Niou came up with the total, "Fourteen items."

The Rikkai team's mumblings became slightly louder. Choutarou only need to be wearing anything more than eight items and they were /saved/.

Choutarou started forwards and hesitantly began to take off what he had on: T-shirt. Belt. Pants. Necklace. Sock. Sock.

Six. Two items short.

Everyone's gaze landed on Oshitari. It would be his choice to see who Rikkai sacrificed. The tensai of Hyoutei sent Niou a knowing look before he gave his buchou a side glance.

Atobe didn't see the strange look sent his way, he was too busy smirking and lounging around in his outrageously purple boxers.

Oshitari opened his mouth. The Rikkai team held its collective breath.

One word dropped out into the silence. "Sanada."

Everyone's eyes landed on the Rikkai fukubuchou who looked as cornered as a rabbit in a cage.

Sanada turned to Yukimura with a whispered plea, "Yukimura…"

Yukimura gave him a faint, sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry Genichirou. You heard the rules that Niou announced. Oshitari has the pick." The blue-haired, innocent looking buchou placed a hand on his heart, "Alas… I am powerless to stop such evil."

Yagyuu and the entire Hyoutei team, who just happened to take a sip of water at /exactly/ the same time, choked at that and coughed. Oh, apart from Atobe of course. He merely sent a smile and raised his glass as if salute. Probably a case of 'birds of a feather, sticking together'.

Closing his eyes and resigned to his poor fate, Sanada Genichirou, vice captain of the National winning Rikkai team, did his duty. His shirt and his pants hit the floor.

He retook his place by Yukimura, clad only in his boxers and…

Marui blinked his bright violet eyes and turned to Niou, "Ne, ne, 'Haru?"

The Trickster looked pleased and more amused than he had been for a while and so his response was /almost/ polite, "What is it?"

"Since necklaces, belts and chains count as one item of clothing…"

"Yeah. What?"

"Don't hats count too?" Marui finished the question, his gaze going back to Sanada once more.

"Yeah. So?"

"Fukubuchou's wearing a hat."

"Yeah. And?"

"He's still wearing it."

"Oh." Niou turned to Sanada. His vice captain's eyes had widened as the exchange went further.

Dammit. Sanada had /forgotten/ about his hat. Now he was stuck like this till he went back home. He hung his head in shame.

He had /forgotten/ about his HAT!

_End memory…_

* * *

Oshitari had a bad case of déjà vu as he eyed Niou who continued to smirk. 

The Trickster opened his mouth and the forfeit was named…

…And Oshitari felt like fainting dead away for the first time in his life.

* * *

YES! I finally get to end on a proper cliffie! HAHAHAHA. 

Ahem. Now that this first chapter is posted, like I promised, the next chapter of TCON will be up in a day or so.

Yep! My HIATUS is officially over!!

For everyone who's been wondering if I was dead or something… My explanation and apology is all written out in my A/N for TCON. Brick me /after/ you read it! XDDD

So… If you liked/didn't like/completely have no view whatsoever, PLEASE! Leave this poor, starving fanfiction writer a review. Pretty please? XD


	2. The Gentlemen's Wager

**Forfeits and Wagers**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Prince of Tennis boys. Honestly… If I did, I'd be so ecstatic and my fics would be canon. However… I own this storyline. Honest!

**Chapter summary: **Oshitari reminisces about that poker game and its forfeit. Don't forget the Trickster and the rest of the gaggle. Ah… Niou… Niou… Niou. When have you become such a baby? Oh? Isn't this starting to sound a bit familiar? Remember these magic words? – 'training camp'. And you wonder when it all started to fall apart. Atobe… You just have no idea what you're in for.

**Warnings: **Crack, over the top OOC and shounen ai.

**A/N: **I told you that it'll be once a week. I'm SORRY! But seriously. I told you that I'll tell you the pairings this chapter. Most of them should be obvious by now:

Oshitari x Gakuto/Gakuto x Oshitari

Shishido x Choutarou/Choutarou x Shishido

Niou x Yagyuu/Yagyuu x Niou

Marui x Kirihara/Kirihara x Marui

And the biggest one:

? x ?/? x ?

XD I know… I'm being nasty giving you question marks. But you'll find out the main pairing in this fic soon enough. I promise! XD As for the uke and seme… I'll leave you to figure out who's what in the relationship, I love them either way! XD

**For Meg!**

* * *

**­­Chapter Two: The Gentlemen's Wager**

"Hello? Oshitari?"

Oshitari jerked upright from his slouched position as he identified the voice of Yukimura.

Gakuto's head made a decent bouncy ball, the Hyoutei tensai mused as the red-head's head bounced up and down on the sofa.

Gakuto scowled at Oshitari who was currently standing with his mobile phone pressed to his ear. The red-head had fallen off Oshitari's lap when the latter had picked up the phone. The short acrobat stretched out and continued to stare, hoping that the attention will freak the tensai out.

It did nothing of the kind. Instead, Oshitari turned and blew a kiss in Gakuto's direction with a wink added on for good measure.

"I've heard from Niou…" were the first words the Rikkai captain said to Oshitari as soon the blue-haired boy got out his greeting.

Oshitari waited with baited breath. This was his last chance at escape. If Yukimura agreed to suppress Niou this time, Oshitari will be forever grateful. However…

"Don't you think it's a brilliant idea?" Yukimura literally gushed over the phone. Oshitari winced. He was /doomed/.

"Umm… Sure?" The tensai hoped that Yukimura would get the hint that it /wasn't/ a good idea and let it go.

"Genichirou and Keigo would totally look perfect together. And it's about time that Genichirou grew up and got himself a family. And I think Keigo's the one for him..."

Oshitari tuned out at that point and proceeded to scream his defiance to the skies about his fate. All silently of course. He didn't want to die just yet.

* * *

_The day before…_

"Well…" Niou tapped a finger against his chin as if in deep thought.

The entire room held their breath. Oshitari just didn't want to breathe. He wondered idly if one could choke to death by not breathing. But that idea was brushed off when Jirou promptly keeled over, blue in the face from holding his breath. He began breathing again as soon as he hit the floor. Almost immediately, everyone present were subjected to his snores as the narcoleptic third year went from faint to sleep.

"Well…" Niou repeated, looking slightly unamused by the interruption. He slid off his chair and slung an arm around Yagyuu who shifted. Slightly.

"I've been bored lately." That statement dropped into the room. A loud snore interrupted the silence. Niou ignored it and Oshitari gulped. A bored Trickster was a dangerous Trickster. However, he kept his gaze level as he watched the other boy.

Niou settled himself on his partner's lap, ignoring Yagyuu's faint protest by clamping a hand over the other's mouth. His other hand rested casually under his chin. "I've been thinking about a few things. Especially from that training camp in our last year of junior high."

Several people in the room shuffled about and looked guilty. All except Jackal of course. And Oshitari too. They couldn't feel guilty. Not at all.

"So… There are a few issues that we still haven't sorted out…" The silver-haired Rikkai player was interrupted by Jirou's snore again. Louder this time.

Niou managed to ignore it and continued pleasantly, or at least as pleasantly as he could. "Now… The only way to achieve that is to actually hold another one of our prized training camps." He finished with a smirk and looked around the room.

The room was silent. A displeased expression could be seen on the Trickster's normally smirking face.

The room continued in its silence. This time… it added various shocked, angry or otherwise distressed expressions to the already full silence.

Another snore tore through the room. Added with the not quite appreciative response for his brilliant idea, Niou had had enough. He stalked over to where Jirou was sleeping and looked down with narrowed eyes at the boy. He then stalked back to where Yagyuu was sitting, looking quite faint from the lack of air earlier, and grabbed him.

Yagyuu managed to voice out another feeble protest but he declined to comment after his partner dragged him over to where Jirou slept and used him as a stick. The room maintained its silence and expressions. The Trickster in a sulky mood was not one to be trifled with.

Besides… The idea of Yagyuu being used as a stick to hit Jirou with was an interesting sight. Who had known that Niou could even lift Yagyuu off the ground, let alone hold him horizontally. If one really tried, one could definitely imagine Yagyuu as some kind of carnival toy. Especially if you were thinking about the inflatable hammer. Or perhaps the inflatable giant Yagyuus that floated around every now and again.

Thump. "Ow."

Thump, thump. "OW!"

Thump, smack. "OW!!"

Jirou yawned and sat up. His face registered a slightly shocked look as he noticed the Gentleman Yagyuu nursing a bruised head by his side.

Niou stood towering over both of them with an unhappy look on his face. Yagyuu was injured and Jirou wasn't hurt at all. Well, Yagyuu didn't really matter since it was well… Yagyuu. But the fact that Jirou had no injuries whatsoever… A thoughtful look overcame the pouting Trickster's face. What had Marui said about him again? Something about an alien race was it? Interesting…

With no sense of preservation whatsoever, Jirou grinned up at the Trickster. "Why don't you get straight to the point?"

Niou spun to face the tensai, Oshitari. "I want you, for my amusement, to make it so that Sanada and Atobe get together. You have a week."

Oshitari blinked.

And blinked again.

And again.

"WHAT?!" Gakuto was sure his partner's voice had never hit such a girly note before.

The Hyoutei team looked surprised but maintained their dignity. The entire Rikkai team was rolling on the floor with laughter. Apart from Jackal of course. He didn't roll on the floor. He just smiled indulgently at everyone who did.

Yanagi was the first one to get back up. He pulled out his data book, "Are you going to tell them?"

"Hell no!" Niou snapped. His voice softened again, "Anyone who tells Sanada or Atobe about this forfeit will have their lives in danger." He leaned backwards onto the wall, ever the smirking know-it-all again.

"I've been told that Seigaku's Inui has an interesting new drink that he needs to try out…" His words trailed off suggestively.

Everyone present blanched and backed away. They had all experienced the horror of Inui's juice first hand back in junior school. No one, not even Jackal, was willing to experience it again.

"Right…" Rubbing his hands together, Niou looked around at the whole room. "I thought it would be a nice touch to help you out this time Oshitari…"

Oshitari didn't look too overjoyed at that.

"I'm going to discuss this with my captain and see what we can come up with. Yukimura did suggest something like this as a forfeit and a training camp seemed like the best way to go about it. Not to mention that we'd have the best seats in the house. However, in the meantime, you and your team can get started. I'll get back to you in a couple of days."

The blue-haired tensai glared at the Trickster, not trusting this show of mercy. "I want it all in writing. Signed, sealed and delivered."

"Done."

* * *

_A couple of days later…_

Niou made himself comfortable on Oshitari's sofa. "I'm glad to see that you were smart and agreed to take the forfeit."

Oshitari's smirk was back in its normal place after almost a week's worth of desertion. He kept a mental note to punish it later. "Oh, well. What's got to be done has to be done."

He sat himself down opposite the Trickster. "Now… Why don't we get down to business?"

* * *

_An hour later…_

Niou nodded and gave Oshitari a slow look. His eyes held a glimmer of respect for the Hyoutei tensai.

"Well. That's done isn't it?" Oshitari looked over the agreement that they were to sign.

The Rikkai boy let his gaze graze over the document once more. "Yep. That's it." From his pocket, he pulled out a pen and signed his name with a flourish.

Oshitari leaned over and did the same. They shook on the deal.

"Deal."

The Trickster smirked. His fun was about to begin.

* * *

After Niou left, Oshitari sat back and took a calming sip of the green tea that Gakuto handed him. Gakuto then retreated to the study. //Probably to snigger his head off// the tensai thought uncharitably. 

Oshitari felt the weight that had hung on him lift just that little. Niou hadn't objected, at least not overly much, on having both the Rikkai team and Hyoutei team cooperate for this forfeit. The Hyoutei tensai suspected Yukimura's hand behind Niou's demureness.

He looked over the agreement once more and felt the entire weight of the world return.

Dammit. How were you supposed to get two boys who had no apparent interest in each other together? Especially since one was such an egoist and the other such a brick.

Sanada and Atobe? They'd never work.

But Oshitari was now risking his reputation to make it work. His arms cushioned his head as he let out a well deserved groan.

"Damn that Niou."

* * *

Atobe ignored the strange looks his teammates were giving him. He was well used to it. They were obviously in so much awe of his prowess that their eyes were glazing over. 

It was still currently school holidays but the entire team had agreed, when they reformed in senior high, that they would carry on training even during holidays.

The buchou of Hyoutei hummed a soft tune as he changed and exited out into the sunny courts.

"Atobe." Shishido drawled out a greeting and raised a hand from where he stood with Ohtori.

Jirou bounced over and waved his racquet excitedly. "Atobe!" He bounced away again.

"Atobe-san." Choutarou bowed politely before turning back to answer Shishido's question.

Hiyoshi merely nodded as did Gakuto and Oshitari. Kabaji took his customary guard position from behind.

Atobe allowed himself to nod to all of them before taking his normal seat on the benches to observe.

It was about ten minutes in that he started to notice the slightly tense air and abnormal undercurrents his regulars were giving off.

Hiyoshi had tripped over three tennis balls and glared at all three before he proceeded to smash them across the court to a blank faced Kabaji, who was his practice partner. That wasn't anything new. Tennis balls seemed to make it their mission to trip Hiyoshi up at least twice every practice. It was the fact that Hiyoshi seemed to be slightly less deadly towards them afterwards that seemed fishy. He didn't even destroy any with a well aimed dart or his super Enbu tennis or anything.

Oshitari and Gakuto were scowling at each other. That was nothing new either. The two still got into an argument three times a week and had countless smaller fights between that. It was the fact that both were /silently/ scowling that caused Atobe to take note. During a normal fight, Oshitari would make drawling insults across the net during a game to a fuming Gakuto who'd return them with a louder voice and harder smack of the ball. It was weird.

But the thing that really frightened Atobe was the fact that Shishido and Choutarou seemed to be unhappy with each other. Atobe eyed his top doubles pair with apprehension. The day Shishido and Ohtori actually argued was the day the apocalypse was due to come. They were usually so lovey-dovey that Atobe needed to tell them to control themselves. Now the Hyoutei captain found himself telling the two standing before him to communicate decently and cooperate.

There was definitely something up.

The final straw was Jirou. Instead of peacefully sleeping this practice away, he was currently doing laps. /LAPS/!

Atobe stood up and scowled at everyone.

"That's enough!" His voice carried across the three courts. Everyone stopped what they were doing and eyed him. It was rare to see Atobe in such a temper. Oshitari wondered if they had gone a bit too far.

"Everyone is to do twenty laps around the court. Then you are to meet me in the club room." With that, Atobe turned and made his way into the said room.

As soon as their buchou disappeared, Oshitari slung an arm around Gakuto and sent a quick message from his phone. Shishido patted Choutarou consoling on the head as the younger boy bowed and apologized profusely. Hiyoshi pelted Kabaji with multiple tennis balls all of which popped with suspicious looking spikes protruding from the remains and Jirou slept, propped on Kabaji.

That was exhausting. Oshitari eyed the club room, hoping that Yukimura and Niou kept their side of the deal.

* * *

There was something definitely fishy about today, Atobe mused as he leaned back in his chair. He was currently waiting for his regulars to make their way here and have an explanation ready. 

Brring.

Brring.

His phone. Picking it up, Atobe took a glance at the caller ID before answering it with some surprise. It seemed that today was full of them.

"Seiichi… Why, it's a pleasure to hear from you." Atobe and Yukimura had been on first name terms ever since that incident disguised as a training camp three years ago.

"Keigo." Yukimura sounded a little more stressed than usual.

They exchanged the usual small talk before Yukimura got to the point.

"Keigo? I want to propose something…"

Atobe listened with interest. It was rare for Yukimura to bring up a point so quickly, "Sure…"

A sigh. Yukimura sighed! Atobe felt a little wary. The Rikkai captain continued on, "My team has been misbehaving very badly lately. I don't know if your team is the same. However, Renji has just given me some information…" He trailed off hopefully as if expecting Atobe to ask or answer.

A pause. Atobe considered for a second and then answered, "My team hasn't been too bright today either."

Yukimura sounded excited, which caused Atobe to feel even more scared, "Exactly. Anyway, Renji said that he had gotten talking with Inui Sadaharu from Seigaku and apparently Seigaku has had the same problem."

Atobe perked up. Tezuka was suffering from the same problem? "Really? Did Yanagi suggest a solution to this… /problem/?"

"He did. Renji said the most likely theory he can come up with is that our teams have become stale."

"Stale?"

"Stale." Yukimura confirmed. "We've had exactly the same people in our teams, as the regulars for so long that they've gotten used to each other. However, people change as they grow, so now their old comfortable combinations won't work anymore. That's why everyone's so out of sync."

Atobe paused and thought for a while, "Why has it /just/ shown up? Our teams have been back together for almost an year now."

Yukimura made some offhand comment about adjustments and timing.

"Was there anything in particular that you needed to cure it?"

The Rikkai buchou seemed to be waiting for that question. "Yes!"

Atobe blinked. "Which is?"

"Another training camp. This time entirely focused on team building."

"Oh."

Atobe considered for a while. It was true that the last time they held a joint training camp, it had turned out to be a disaster. But everyone was older and wiser now. So it shouldn't be a problem…

Right?

Right.

The imperious Hyoutei buchou nodded and gave his answer, "Fine. My team shall join your team for a weekend…"

Yukimura sounded pleased. Too pleased. "Good. I'm sure you have the address to my country estate. It's nice and big. We'll see you there this Friday morning, is that alright?"

A shiver went down Atobe's spine at the other buchou's tone, but he ignored it. How crazy could three days be? He had already survived a /week/ with them. Atobe was sure he'd live through three days.

Oh, how wrong he was…

"Sure…"

"Oh… And Keigo?"

"Hmm?"

"Since you got to list out the training menu last time, it'll be a fair trade off if I do the training menu this time. Alright?"

"That's fine."

Both sides hung up.

Atobe convincined himself to feel slightly less wary. Yukimura was just being helpful. Nothing else. It was all in a day's work for a buchou of their caliber.

Honestly, Atobe should have known that nothing good was up. Especially from that sinister smile that Oshitari gave as he was informing the team of the upcoming three day team building camp.

But Atobe didn't know a thing. Innocently, for what was probably the first time in his life, Atobe Keigo walked into a trap of another's making.

When the Trickster and his captain teamed up, no one could defy that onslaught of nature. Even he, Oshitari Yuushi, in his prodigious position as Hyoutei's tensai, had been steamrolled into it.

Oshitari almost felt sorry for his captain and Sanada, who were going to be caught right in the middle of it.

Almost.

But not quite.

* * *

I know that it's clichéd! –cries- And I know that it's perfectly pathetic to have to steal my own story ideas. I hope it was worth it! XD I swear that the training camp is going to be very… very different in comparison to TCON. It's Rikkai after all. XD 

I notice that my chapters are getting longer (on average) so YAH! –throws another party-

So… Please? Review!!! I LIVE ON THEM!

TCON update tomorrow! Whee!

(EDIT) - Whee! I've been given permission by my lovely epal, KiriharaAkaya, to advertise her forum devoted to him. All lovers of Akaya, indeed, all lovers of Rikkai should join! -nods- Yep.

Visit http://z8(dot)invisionfree(dot)com/Akaya(underscore)Love/index(dot)php? and have a look! It's still in it's infant phase but hey! Everything needs time to grow!


	3. The Happy Cup

**Forfeits and Wagers**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Prince of Tennis boys. Honestly… If I did, I'd be so ecstatic and my fics would be canon. However… I own this storyline. Honest!

**Chapter summary: **Atobe is depressed over the size of his summer house. The Rikkai team has become sort of more OOC than usual. Really. And Sanada somehow wants to crawl somewhere and disappear. Yukimura is proud of his training regime. You won't believe how he's going to run it. Seriously.

**Warnings: **Crack, over the top OOC and shounen ai.

**A/N: **XD I should have done this way before… But as I am lazy… I only wrote this one up yesterday. Whee! I hope you enjoy. And here are the pairings… Fully filled in this time. I won't put this up next chapter (because it's too long XD) but they should be obvious.

Oshitari x Gakuto/Gakuto x Oshitari

Shishido x Choutarou/Choutarou x Shishido

Niou x Yagyuu/Yagyuu x Niou

Marui x Kirihara/Kirihara x Marui

And the biggest one:

Sanada x Atobe/Atobe x Sanada

There! I've given you all of the pairings. XD And a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who read and reviewed!!!

Now go and enjoy!

**For Meg!**

* * *

**Chapter Three: The Happy Cup**

Atobe and his team drew up in his limousine at the agreed upon summer house.

"Are you sure it's owned by Yukimura?" Gakuto asked doubtfully as the entire Hyoutei team surveyed the fairly impressive property sprawled before them.

"Yes." Atobe ran a hand through his immaculate hair and removed a small hand mirror from his bag to check his appearance. He had heard the same question echoed by other members of his team countless times throughout the journey. Even he was slightly surprised at the actual size of the place. It could have rivaled any of his summer chateaus.

"It could rival one of your summer chateaus, Atobe." Oshitari smirkingly informed his longtime friend and captain.

Said captain resisted the urge to roll his eyes and snapped his compact mirror closed irritably. They were currently just inside the gates. Atobe had called Yukimura, as soon as they arrived, to inform him of their appearance. Yukimura had told him that the welcome party had been deployed. Atobe just barely refrained himself from commenting about the military reference. He just hoped it didn't involve dancing or songs. Atobe was not sure about his patience lasting through such a performance.

"Ore-sama's summer chateaus may be around this size, but my winter mansion is definitely bigger." Atobe informed his tensai who was still wearing that infuriating smirk. Atobe was slightly unnerved by the length of time that the smirk had stayed around for, ever since he announced the camp, but Atobe didn't let on that the expression was bothering him.

"Still… Yukimura probably has the bigger summer house out of the two of you right?" Jirou bounced up and down, clearly excited. He was going to see Marui-kun again. Never mind that his idol was already dating that scary second year from Rikkai, Kirihara Akaya… He could still cheer and bounce around him right?

"Maybe…" Atobe was still unable to concede defeat. "But my winter house is definitely bigger."

Ohtori leaned towards his partner, Shishido, "Say… Is comparing houses an ego thing with buchous?"

Shishido snorted and leaned quite comfortably against the taller boy, "Probably just Atobe does it. And it's definitely to compensate for something…" The Silver Pair shared a knowing look.

The blue-capped boy cast a slightly impressed look at the place they were going to be holding 'training camp' for the next couple of days, "But even I've got to say that this place is clearly bigger than any holiday mansion of Atobe's."

Atobe twitched, obviously overhearing that comment and turned his glare onto Shishido. "You dare compare this to ore-sama's /winter/ mansion?" He put particular stress on the word 'winter'.

"Not winter. Summer, buchou…" Hiyoshi was sitting quite steadily on top of a pile of luggage. He had become much more social ever since his interaction with the Rikkai boys at the previous training camp. He actually could talk without been prodded, asked a question or have that little white string in the middle of his back pulled.

You could see Atobe's teeth clenching. "Yukimura's summer house may be slightly more spacious… But my winter mansion is /bigger/!"

He turned away in a way that signaled the current topic of conversation was clearly closed. Atobe didn't hear anything about the chateau or summer house again.

Oh… That also may have been due to the fact he had Kabaji block his ears for him, but that's not very important at all.

As the remainder of the Hyoutei team sniggered amongst themselves or leaned back to snigger about their buchou, a small dust cloud was fast approaching. A closer look revealed the Rikkai team, in their entirety, approaching.

But what made the Hyoutei boys gape and back away was the fact that Rikkai were wearing super short shorts and tight tops, all in that particularly horribly blinding yellow color of the Rikkai uniform. Oh… All apart from Yukimura of course. He was in his usual Rikkai tennis uniform which totally did nothing to elevate the effect of all that horrendous yellow since it was the same color.

As soon as they were within earshot, the Rikkai team began something which couldn't be classed as anything but a cheerleading routine.

"W!" Marui jumped forward, somersaulted and did the splits.

"E!" Jackal copied Marui, with that placid smile firmly in place.

"L!" Akaya looked pouty, but jumped over Jackal and Marui, performed an impossible number of flips and still managed to stand straight.

"C!" Renji skipped forward and smiled. He took up his position on the side, after mirroring Akaya's steps. Except that he felt slightly woozy and collapsed onto the floor.

"O!" Yagyuu didn't look very excited. He had no expression on his features as he performed several cartwheels before kneeling down on the grass. It was obvious that he had been taking his medications.

"M!" Niou was in full smirk as he copied what Yagyuu had done, with considerably more enthusiasm and bounce.

"E!" Sanada looked ready to crawl into the nearest rabbit hole and hide till the end of the world came. He back flipped three times and landed at the very front of the little triangle that had formed. His face was a steaming red color as he tugged down his… shorts?

The entire Hyoutei team took several scrambled steps back. Even Atobe did. They were that horrified. The Rikkai team wasn't in short shorts. They were in short _skirts_! But was mainly the fact that only Sanada and Akaya looked somewhat embarrassed to be wearing them that was… /slightly/ unnerving.

//But cross dressing was perfectly normal// The Hyoutei team thought in unison, trying to reassure themselves. //People do it all the time now. Look at the girls. They practically cross dressed everyday. Yup… Perfectly normal. //

They nodded in unison again, after coming up with that perfectly scientific explanation.

"WELCOME!" The entire Rikkai team, Yukimura excluded, cheered and waved their pom poms. God knew where those had come from.

Yukimura burst into applause and Atobe followed. The Hyoutei team joined in reluctantly as Atobe sent them a glare. Jirou was dancing again and yelling Marui's name at the top of his lungs. That earned him a glare and mental death threat from Akaya.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Yukimura smiled, obviously very happy with his team's performance. "It was wonderful!"

Atobe's normal arrogance and composure had returned. Finally. "Hmm… Thank you so much for that… utterly enlightening… performance Seiichi." He turned to the other captain, "Am I presuming too much when I say that you prepared that routine just for us?"

The Rikkai buchou continued to smile and nodded happily, "Of course Keigo. How could you think that I wouldn't welcome you with open arms?"

"I couldn't." Both captains shared a smile a pleased look. That was probably the reason why Atobe missed the significant look that Niou and Oshitari exchanged. And you can't have a 'significant look' without a 'very sinister smirk' which both wore for a split second after the eye contact.

Ah well… It was best for both teams that he hadn't seen it. If he had… It could have been guaranteed and doubly insured that Atobe would have run away.

The pure evil that floated around in that second was more than enough to overdose a fluffy bunny on. And everyone knows that bunnies, especially fluffy ones, need a lot of evil to overdose. It was probably because they were such evil in the first place. Just like Yukimura.

* * *

They were arranged carelessly in the living room. The boys from both teams that was…

They sprawled comfortably around the living room. On sofas, in them, on the floor, in the floor and on the table.

Yep. /In/ the sofas and in the floor.

Renji was the one in the floor. Kabaji had stuck him there after Renji tried to predict his future. It seemed that the data master had gotten himself interested in tarot cards and fortune telling. Yagyuu and Akaya were the two in the sofas.

Niou had thought it would be funny to sandwich his partner between the base and the cushioning of one sofa. Yagyuu had desisted to protest after Niou sat on him but still wriggled every now and again. Ohtori had offered to help the slightly perturbed looking Gentleman but Yagyuu had declined the offer.

Akaya appeared to be in the same position because he thought it looked fun, Marui was sitting on top, giggling whilst Jirou sent them envious glances. Jackal had wanted to join him but Akaya had protested that there wasn't enough room and he would die from the weight.

Gakuto had then snorted and made a comment about Jackal being fat which made the defense master give him a very genial smile. Oshitari immediately came between the two as his protective instincts kicked in. Thank goodness he had, or else it just may have ended up fatal for Gakuto.

No one present knew what an angry Jackal could do… Mayhap burn something with his famous yell of 'FIYAH!' or with a lighter. Even worse… He could shave Gakuto bald with his razor.

Oshitari shuddered. Then there'd be /two/ Jackals. One shorter than the other. But still two of him.

Yukimura was the only one who was missing from the room. He had left everyone to their own devices saying that he had to retrieve the training menu and various other things. Hyoutei and most of Rikkai were warily wondering what those things were. Other people, namely Niou and… well... just Niou, knew what was coming. He could have rubbed his hands together with glee.

The Rikkai captain reappeared pushing a trolley with various compartments. It rattled and clicked. Both teams eyed it with high levels of apprehension. It couldn't be good.

Yukimura whipped out sixteen sheets of variously colored paper and black markers. He handed them out to everyone. Everyone, sans Niou, looked at the two things with slight confusion. Was this some kind of spelling test? If it were, the teams looked ready to mutiny.

Akaya pouted and whined to Marui, who was still sitting on top, "Marui-chan! I don't want to do a spelling test! Tell buchou to stop!!"

Marui patted Akaya's head. "There, there. I don't think we're actually doing a spelling test. But if we are, I'll do your one for you, ok?"

Akaya smiled at him gratefully. It was a feat from where he was. "Thank you so much!"

Niou looked slightly creeped out at this obvious show of affection. He looked down at Yagyuu, hoping that he wasn't expecting something like that from him. Niou shuddered and bounced up and down /hard/ on the sofa, making sure to squash his partner every time. And that would hopefully quash any thoughts of romance out of the Gentleman's head too.

Marui smiled back, "I know that spelling is just below botany on your hated subjects list…"

Everyone blinked at that statement. Botany was offered at Rikkai? Sanada scratched his cap thoughtfully, even he hadn't known that and he /went/ to Rikkai.

Niou snorted, "And here I thought Akaya was the dumb one in the group."

Akaya protested at that with muffled thuds. He was probably trying to throw punches at Niou who was sitting a couple of feet away, perched on top of Yagyuu.

Jackal blinked and looked thoroughly confused. "We don't do botany. If we did, everyone would fail that apart from buchou." A normal smile reappeared on his face, "Remember when he brought a pot plant in to liven up the club room? It was dead before that first practice was over."

"I thought it was a weed alright?" Akaya protested sulkily. "It looked like one."

Niou bounced up and down a couple more times because he was bored. Yagyuu gave out a few muffled 'oomphs' but otherwise remained silent. "You never fail to amaze me Akaya. That was a cactus. It looked nothing like a weed. I don't know how much weed killer you used on that poor thing."

Akaya opened his mouth and Niou completed his sentence quickly, "And I don't want to know."

The silver haired Trickster smirked and flicked his braid back. "I think you meant biology." That comment was directed at Marui.

"That's what I said!" The pink haired tensai blew a bubble irritably.

"Sure, sure." Niou winked. "And cows can fly."

"They can!" Akaya suddenly struggled up and tipped Marui over, "I /saw/ them last night!"

Everyone looked carefully away and pretended to hear nothing.

Yukimura smiled and captured everyone's attention again, "Please write on that sheet of paper the thing you would most like to do."

The room remained silent, waiting for Yukimura to complete his explanation. After about ten minutes of silence and uncomfortable staring, it became obvious that Yukimura wasn't about to add anything else.

Yagyuu had been allowed to sit on top of the sofa now. "Are we supposed to write down what we would like to do now? Or for training?"

Yukimura's smile just didn't seem to dim at all. "Whatever you would most like to do," was his repeated answer.

"Yukimura?" Oshitari was staring at his sheet of paper in surprise. "What is 'whatever you would most like to do'?"

"Whatever you would most like to do of course!" The Rikkai captain repeated again and folded his newly written piece of paper carefully.

Akaya pouted. "Buchou?"

The entire room sighed, expecting another question on what they were to write and another repetitive answer from Yukimura.

"Can I use crayon? I don't like black marker." Akaya finished.

"Sure." Yukimura handed his second year a bright red crayon. Marui watched it with an envious look. With a smile, Yukimura handed the volley genius a nice green crayon. "There you are Bunta. It's nice and pretty."

Marui nodded and began scribbling next to Akaya.

The Hyoutei team didn't know what to make of the scene and so just deleted it from their collective memories. Atobe was sitting back with a smirk. He had finished writing his long ago.

Yukimura gestured to the Hyoutei buchou, "Keigo? Would you like to come up here please?"

Standing side by side, the two formidable captains surveyed their teams. When everyone looked about finished, Yukimura pulled out a bright purple canister and a bright pink one. Everyone shielded their eyes from the sight. It was almost as bad as the Rikkai uniforms. And just as hideous. Were those pink and purple /ribbons/ hanging off them? A horrified shudder ripped through the assembled mass of tennis players.

Yukimura seemed highly pleased with the reactions he received. He waved around the pink canister after handing the purple one to Atobe. "Let me introduce you to the 'Happy Cup'!" He exclaimed happily and pointed to where Atobe was examining his purple one the way one would examine a particularly valuable diamond. "That's 'Happy Cup 2'! Get it?" The blue-haired captain chuckled indulgently at his own, very lame, joke. No one pointed it out to him exactly /how/ lame it was.

Yukimura smilingly continued, oblivious to the gagging expressions that were dominating almost everyone's faces. "Now… Can the Rikkai team please fold their paper and put them inside this cute pink can?"

No one on the Rikkai team had the courage to inform their captain that it was the furthermost thing from cute. It was positively revolting. Instead, they quietly lined up and dropped their pieces of paper in.

Atobe gestured for his team, "You can put yours in the purple one." The Hyoutei team obliged. However, when Shishido made a move to push the delicate looking thing onto the floor, Hiyoshi made a diving tackle and attacked his senior whilst Atobe grabbed onto the can quite firmly.

"Shishido!" Atobe sounded as shocked as Yukimura looked. "How could you? It's our 'Happy Cup 2'!"

Shishido gagged, literally this time, and had to be helped back by a very concerned looking Choutarou.

When everyone was seated back down, excluding Atobe and himself, Yukimura shook both cans quite firmly and set them down. As he was about to elaborate on the cups, his gaze was caught by something that needed his immediate attention.

Disapproving looks were directed to Akaya and Marui, "Akaya! Bunta! How many times have I told you? Those /aren't/ edible!"

Both boys looked up guiltily. The remains of their colored crayons were smeared around their mouths and shirts.

"But… Buchou!" Marui wailed, "It said that it was apple flavored!"

Akaya nodded, "Mine said that it was strawberry flavored!"

Yukimura then sent Niou a warning glance. Niou shook his head and looked genuinely bewildered. He hadn't changed any crayon labels lately and definitely none to apple and strawberry. Yukimura and Niou's gaze went straight to Yagyuu who looked back at them innocently and pushed his glassed up the bridge of his nose more firmly. "What?"

The entire Hyoutei team was lost to the undercurrents that floated about. They were still fixated on the fact that two of the Rikkai team had just eaten crayons and the remainder of their team acted like it was normal.

Scary.

No one on their team had eaten a crayon before. Unless you counted that dare that Shishido had made to Hiyoshi in which the second year had to bite a pastel in half. Hiyoshi did the entire pack.

Yukimura shook his head and kept to the task at hand, "Now… I will draw one piece of paper from the Rikkai 'Happy Cup' and Atobe will draw one from the Hyoutei 'Happy Cup 2'…" Again, he stopped to chuckle warmly. No one really wanted to share in that humor but they grinned or giggled along sportingly.

Atobe was lounging quite comfortably against the giant whiteboard. It had confused him somewhat to find one in a living room. But then this was Rikkai, so he guessed that anything went.

Yukimura recovered from his little laughing spree and continued, "Then we shall stick them up onto this whiteboard," and thus Atobe found his reason for having a whiteboard in a living room and for living again.

Silence reigned in the room again, and again, everyone found out the hard way that Yukimura had apparently finished what he had planned to say.

"Erm…" Oshitari cleared his throat, "Excuse me…"

Yukimura turned to the Hyoutei tensai questioningly, "What is it?"

Oshitari leaned back a little more into the chair he was currently sitting in. Gakuto was snuggled into his side. Oshitari took a little time to reflect on how convenient it was to have a small boyfriend. You could practically carry him in your pocket.

After that one moment of reflection, he continued to chase his original train of thought, "What are we supposed to do with the two activities listed on the paper?"

An enlightened look dawned on the Rikkai buchou's face, "Oh. Well… It's very easy. That will be our training regime for a couple of hours."

An uproar ensured in the spacious living room. Couples yelled over one another and Yagyuu calmly picked Niou up and threw him across the room, presumably in revenge for being used as a stick. Or maybe he just wanted to vent his frustration. But mostly likely, it was because he wanted to show everyone that he could.

Niou picked himself up and said in a voice pitched to carry over the chaos in the room, "Do we do Hyoutei's first? Or do we do ours first?"

Yukimura looked puzzled at the question until Niou clarified it again, "There's two activities picked out each time right?"

He waited until Yukimura nodded before continuing, "So which do we do first?"

"Neither. We do them together, at the same time, mixing them together." Yukimura blinked and added something as if it just occurred to him. "Oh… And the two people who had written the activities have to agree as to how it is to be carried out. They will tell me and I'll plan it according. Anyway… There'll be three activities each day today and tomorrow and only two on Sunday."

Another smile, "That way, we'll have plenty of time for the party…"

Without another word, Atobe handed Yukimura a piece from the purple 'Happy Cup 2' whilst Yukimura drew one out from the 'Happy Cup' and each captain suck it up onto the board.

The room stilled as everyone stared at the two. One was in green crayon. The other was in black marker.

"Baking cakes," murmured Niou with a raised eyebrow. Marui gulped.

"Model making," Oshitari examined the Hyoutei entry.

Kabaji nodded, "Usu."

Yukimura clapped his hands together, "Well… It looks like we have our first activity! Now… Kabaji and Bunta will discuss this for a little while. We shall prepare the kitchen in that time." He made small shooing motions at everyone in the room.

However just as everyone was about to exit the room, Yukimura made a surprised sound and called them back, "Just one more thing!"

Everyone stopped and turned back questioningly.

"I forgot about this before..." With some effort on his part, Yukimura pulled out a sticky board from his trolley with Hyoutei names on one side and Rikkai names on the other. "Since this is a teambuilding training camp, I've decided to pair you up randomly for every activity. That way, you will all learn how to get along with various partners who you are not used to."

"Erm… Buchou?" Marui pointed at the board, confused. "Why is my name, Jackal's, Mukahi's and Oshitari's names written on yellow paper?"

"And why is my name the same color as Renji-senpai, Akutagawa and some random person named Hiyoshi?" Akaya pouted, which earned him a death glare from the aforementioned Hyoutei second year.

"And why are Choutarou and my names the same color as Yagyuu and Niou's?" Shishido growled.

Atobe looked at his name with slight surprise. It was white on an otherwise black slip of paper. The same as Sanada's. "Sanada and I share a color," he announced to the room in general.

He looked closer, "Say Seiichi… Your colors and Kabaji's match."

Yukimura smile turned even happier, "Oh… The colors represent your roomings for the duration of your stay. This house was meant to be a retreat for a family of four and could accommodate two extra guests. I had two bunk beds installed in the three bigger rooms…"

"But why does Atobe get to share his room with only one other person? And why do we get the sugar high one and the insane one?" Gakuto whined and clung harder to Yuushi, although he was pleased that they were rooming together, he still wanted to put up a token fight against the perceived injustice.

The smile was still there, "Atobe and I deserve more privacy since we're your captains. Other than that… I drew your names out of a hat."

"A hat?" Everyone asked, obviously surprised.

"A hat." Yukimura confirmed. "Or did you prefer it if I had done it out of the 'Happy Cup'?"

The entire room assured him that the hat was fine. More that fine in fact.

"Good. Now, these will be your pairings for this first activity. We'll assemble here after we complete it to get our next activities and our new pairings." Yukimura beamed at the room cheerfully, "Ok?"

Everyone beamed back, "Ok!"

Apart from Shishido of course, he glared at the innocent looking Niou and remembered another training camp ever so long ago.

Fate had to be playing a very nasty joke at the moment. And laughing its head off at the irony.

Shishido's only wish was that Fate would really laugh its head off and the dismembered body part would fall right down and squash Niou. That'll solve everyone's problems.

Both Fate and the Trickster gone...

Oh how the world would be a happier place.

* * *

It's going to be crack. Serious crack.

Hopefully.

I'm looking at completing one day of the camp a chapter. But it may drag on for a couple more… But I'm aiming for three more chapters and an epilogue. Reckon I could do it? XD

Questions, suggestions and anything else connected or not to this fic is welcome.

Reviewers will be worshipped. XD


End file.
